Trump and his two adult sons face deposition within months over promotion of alleged pyramid scheme

2018 lawsuit alleges Trump Corporation promoted the American Communication Network multi-level marketing scheme

Donald Trump and his two adult sons will sit for depositions in a lawsuit accusing them of promoting a pyramid scheme over the next few months.

The one-term president will be deposed in the case on 16 June, with Donald Trump Jr due to testify on 10 May, and Eric Trump on 12 May, according to a new federal filing.

The lawsuit against the Trumps was filed in 2018 and alleges that the Trump Corporation promoted the American Communication Network’s alleged multi-level marketing scheme.

Four plaintiffs claim that ACN was a “get-rich scheme” that relied on Mr Trump and his grown children “conn(ing]) each of these victims into giving up hundreds or thousands of dollars” in alleged violation state laws.

Ivanka Trump has not yet settled a deposition date in the case, according to a jointly filed status update from lawyers on both sides, according to Law & Crime.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied an appeal by the Trumps to settle case via arbitration.

The lawsuit claims that the Trumps arranged for ACN to appear on The Celebrity Apprentice twice, which is described in court papers as a “primetime national television show that the Trumps used for what Defendant Ivanka Trump has called a ‘transparent form of product placement.’”

The lawsuit has claimed that Mr Trump and his children claimed investing in the venture, known as ACN Opportunity, LLC “offered a reasonable probability of commercial success”.

It also says while the Trumps allegedly collected millions of dollars for the promotion of the venture, they “failed to conduct due diligence about the likelihood of economic losses and the slim probability of commercial success from such schemes.”

The Trumps have said that they had no control over ACN and have called the lawsuit politically motivated.